Blue Trail out and back, Turkey Mountain

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
3/18/2019	2.6 miles		504'		45.9

Map: Turkey Mountain Map
Parking: Parking lot off of Route 118
Directions: Blue trail to summit, and blue trail back down

Last week we were doing .7 mile hikes after I got out of work. I wanted to go a little longer this week. Traffic was light enough today that I got home in time to do the longer hike we do in this park. It's more strenuous which is good for Glen and I. It also has more people on it, which means we have to train on leash hiking instead of off leash hiking. Well, we need more work with the on leash hiking anyways.  The parking lot was crowded when we headed out. Krumm had a hissy fit when I first put on his head halter, but after a while he mostly forgets about it.  I made the mistake of not making him sit when a man approached us, and Krumm growled a little at him. Maybe he's going through a fear period. I think he may not like balding men? Not sure. We had a bald carpenter work in our house for a few days and Krumm loved him. Then we had a bald plumber (who loves dogs) in our house and Krummholz growled at him both visits. I know sometimes dogs feel threatened when approached by a lone person when hiking. It's the reason I try to call out "hello" loudly to people before we approach them. It helps my dogs realize they are friends not foes. Even if they aren't friends, lol.  We had a second man walk by - this time I had Krumm sit and gave him treats for sitting. And at the summit we saw a younger man who Krumm didn't feel threatened at all by.

Since we took the longer way down the mountain, we knew that we were unlikely to see any other hikers since the sun was setting. We let Krummholz hike off leash for most of the way down. He's a good off leash hiker so far, though we are limiting his distractions at this point until he's more experienced. We did see deer again today. Krummholz stopped and watched. I called him, and he came to me. This is the second time in a week we've done this. What a good pup! So happy he is not chasing wildlife. We finished our hike almost in the dark.